


Warning

by potatosapien



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Don't Be Like Pearl Kids, Episode: s05e18 A Single Pale Rose, Gen, Go Get Some Help, Go Get Therapy, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, Is that everything? uh I think so, It's pretty vague, Kinda...?, Oop, PEARLS HAVE LAYERS, Post-Episode: s05e18 A Single Pale Rose, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Repressing All Your Emotions Is Probably Not a Very Healthy Coping Mechanism Pearl, go drink some water, stop it, that has to be a tag please, there's a tag for that apparently, uh okay bye now, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29885079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potatosapien/pseuds/potatosapien
Summary: Pearl has a dream.There's no turning back now, folks. I have officially written cringey fan fiction. I have SINNEDThere's no real plot to this, just me rambling.uh also I'm still really new to writing so try to be nice to me please? This is just a hobby I've started, I'm not trying to make anything amazing. This is probably trash, but I'm still practicing so yeahhhh
Relationships: Pearl & Pearl(s) (Steven Universe)
Kudos: 2





	Warning

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure bottling up all your trauma and leaving it there for 5000 years isn’t the best coping mechanism. It feels like that's going to majorly backfire soon. :)

_ “Why did you do it?” _

Pearl turned, startled. But there was no one there. She sighed, deciding to get her bearings. 

Before she came here, she had…

What  _ had _ she been doing? 

She… didn’t know. 

But that’s impossible. She had a perfect memory. 

(Well, except for  _ those _ things, but she didn’t want to remember them anyway.)

_ (She wasn’t strong enough to.) _

Pearl looked around. 

She was surrounded by a blurry, gray mist, something she couldn’t look at for too long before she felt her head swim. Thankfully, the area she was standing in had a few feet of clear ground. It was monotone and dull, with no imperfections or cracks. 

Something stirred in the back of her thoughts.

Hm… 

_ “Why did you do it?” _

It came from behind her, that detached voice.

“Do what?” she asked, still scanning her surroundings for the source of the question. 

There was a short silence, then it responded. 

_ “Tell them.” _

Oh. 

So  _ that  _ was what this is all about. 

“They deserved to know. I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t necessary.” 

The answer was firm. 

_ “But you knew it would upset them.” _

“ ….yes, I suppose.”

_ “That’s dangerous.” _

“Why?”

_ “You knew they would hate you. They would  _ hurt  _ you.” _

“Well… I guess I did know. But they wouldn’t  _ really _ hurt me. I trust them.” 

_ “Hm… “ _ The invisible speaker paused, as if it were thinking. 

_ “Even if they didn’t, you would still be hurt. You chose freedom over safety.” _

Pearl blinked. She had not been expecting that question. But still, she responded clearly. 

“I did. I wanted to be free, no matter the cost.  _ It _ was stopping me from achieving that.” 

_ “But not just you.”  _ A dark tone had leaked into its voice, looping between its words. 

_ “It is all free now. You have freed your pain, your sorrow, your fear. The things you put away are free to haunt you.  _

_ “They have already started.” _

_ (...What?) _

Pearl’s eyes widened. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. 

_ (You know what it is talking about, don’t you?) _

She was fine.

“It’s fine,” she repeated softly, “I have it under control.”

_ “Do you though?” _

A whisper behind her neck. 

_ “This is only the beginning. Your secrets and silence can’t help you now.” _

Suddenly, Pearl whirled around. She grabbed onto the other’s arm and looked it in the eye, seeing… 

_ Her _ . 

_ (It was her reflection.) _

It wasn’t an exact replica. The Pearl staring back at her had faded colors, like a doll weathered by time and the darkness of an empty mind. Her eyes were dull and tired, only minute traces of emotion visible on the corners of her face. 

She blinked slowly, presumably unfazed by her counterpart’s actions. 

Pearl was shocked for a second, but recovered quickly, retaining her firm grip on the other’s hand.

(She wasn’t in the dark about the existence of her copies working inside her gem. She knew they were there, knew what they did, and had felt their presence several times. But they had never come so close to her.)

“What are you doing here?” Pearl demanded. 

_ “I came to warn you.” _

Her voice was level, but it still felt urgent. 

_ “What you have done will bring consequences. It will be even more painful. You have been having nightmares, yes?” _

Pearl nodded slowly. She had. 

It was hard to grasp what she saw in them, but she remembered a blind panic, settings she didn’t recognize, and quiet echoes of strange conversations. She had guesses about what the dreams were about, but it was hard to tell with them being so blurry.

Like she was seeing an in-between place, where her memories stayed when they were neither forgotten nor remembered. 

(This was new to her, but the experience of sleeping was too. She had only tried it after some convincing by Steven.)

_ “Then I will tell you this. Soon, you won’t be able to avoid them. The memories will follow you into your waking hours. There will be much pain. I do not know how to prevent this, but hopefully, this will give you time to prepare. Maybe it will be easier. Maybe it can be stopped. Just… be careful.” _

Her reflection’s eyes were filled with worry, but she pushed Pearl’s hand off her and took a few steps back, leaving Pearl no time to process her words. 

_ “Be safe,”  _ the other said.

And with that, she vanished, disappearing into the smoky haze. 

Pearl stood, frozen. Her thoughts were spinning. 

But she didn’t have any more time to be shocked, as the ground started crumbling into white light. 

She was waking up. 

So, with a final sigh, she closed her eyes and floated back into consciousness.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> omg ew this is so cringe fan fiction gross ewwwwww


End file.
